[bb88]

Really cool.

I found myself traveling recently and missed my 3d printer. There were a few neat things I could have done if I had a printer in a carry on. It would be kinda awesome to have a self contained 3d printer with a battery to take wherever I go.

If you're near a harbor freight, they have cheap rugged cases. Maybe design around that form factor, since they're easy to get?

[ezst]

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/positron-upside-down-... and here you got an interesting form-factor

[adolph]

I was thinking the same, thanks for linking to it. Their github has gone quiet in 2025. Is Positron still viable concern?

[thomasjb]

It's been succeeded by Lemontron: https://lemontron.com/

[adolph]

Thank you!

The year-in-review design review is worth watching just to see the decision/optimization process. Really nice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU5CCRJrfcg

[kaipereira]

Oh wow, I've never actually heard about the Lemontron, I'll definitely take a look at it for inspiration!

[kaipereira]

That's a really cool idea!

I have a couple idea's on how I wanted to do it: - Belt printer fitted into a briefcase (the harbor freight case form factor would be good for that!) - Positron style - Maybe mess around with double four-bars

Making it self-contained with a battery is also a really cool concept I'll have to explore!

[alnwlsn]

May not meet your particular definition of small, but my portable printer is a Voron 0.2. The frame is sturdy enough that you can attach a handle to one corner and just carry it around with you, at least for a while. It's not particularly lightweight. But it is small (fits completely inside the build volume of my other printer), and being fully enclosed within the frame, seems more durable than the likes of the other tiny printers (Lemontron, A1 Mini, etc.)

[steve_adams_86]

You'd need a pretty substantial battery on account of how much heat it takes to melt filament. Even the Bambu A1 Mini uses ~150W while heating the hot end. I like the idea of a portable printer, though.

[bdcravens]

It's actually not the hotend heating that's the largest power drain, it's heating the large heat bed. Bambu Lab is introducing firmware features to more slowly ramp up the heat, but I don't need if that could happen slowly enough to not drain a battery.

[steve_adams_86]

Oh right, no idea how I excluded that. I imagine it uses several times more energy. Thanks for the correction!